Trumpism to blame for surprising Democratic victory in crucial state election: columnist

The Republican Party's post-Roe losing streak continued this week in a pair of special elections.

Democrats keep over-performing expectations against extremist GOP candidates in the wake of the Supreme Court decision overturning abortion rights. It prevented them from regaining the Senate majority last year and may have cost them control of New Hampshire on Tuesday , reported the Washington Post.

"Democrat Hal Rafter won by 12 points in a state House district that went narrowly for Donald Trump in 2020," wrote Post columnist Aaron Blake. "The 12-point improvement on the 2020 margin is in line with Democrats’ encouraging continued over-performances in special elections this year; Daily Kos Elections and FiveThirtyEight data on more than two dozen special elections show the party running an average of 7.6 points better than their 2020 margins — margins from a 2020 election that, it bears noting, were already good for Democrats — and double digits better than the normal partisan fundamentals."

Rafter's election flipped a red seat to blue, bringing the populous statehouse to a 198-197 narrowly favoring Republicans, but that could become a tie if upcoming special elections break as expected, and frequent vacancies often tilt the balance of power for votes.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?

"The New Hampshire victory is especially significant because it could ultimately deprive Republicans of their governing “trifecta” — that is, full control of both chambers of the state legislature and the governorship."

Democrats also took back the majority in Pennsylvania when Lindsay Powell easily defeated Republican Erin Connelly Autenreith, who was in Washington on Jan. 6 to support Donald Trump, to preserve a one-seat majority in the statehouse.